A Witch in the Family?
by MayorHaggar
Summary: Dudley's girlfriend has something to tell him. (Written for the 2017 Rarefest.)


"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Dudley asked his girlfriend gently.

"Nothing's wrong!" Cho said, bringing her glass of water to her mouth and practically inhaling the entire thing at once. It was a miracle she didn't choke.

"You're a terrible liar, love," he said with a smile. "You've been acting strange all night, and it's obvious something's bothering you. It's fine if you don't want to tell me what's going on, but you know you can come to me with anything, right?"

"I know," she said with a sigh. "Nothing's wrong, I promise. I'm just trying to work up the nerve to tell you something."

"Nothing bad, I hope?" He tried to play it off like a joke, but he felt a little stab of anxiety. They'd only been dating for a few months but he was already head over heels for Cho. She seemed almost too good to be true at times, and more than once he'd wondered how he'd gotten lucky enough for her to fall for him. His luck was bound to run out, and he figured he couldn't have had much saved up to begin with considering what a shitty person he'd been for most of his life.

"Nothing bad," she agreed, much to his relief. "Just something big. Something I've never told you about myself."

Dudley could tell that this was something serious, and something that would continue to gnaw at her until she got it off of her chest. He set his own drink down on his sitting room table and turned on the couch so he was now facing her directly. He clasped her hands and began running his fingers across her knuckles gently. He could see the goose bumps forming on her skin, and it made him smile.

"What is it?" he asked quietly. "Whatever it is, you don't have to be afraid to tell me about it. Nothing's going to change the way I feel about you."

"Don't be so sure about that," she muttered, breaking eye contact and staring off to the side. She took a deep breath, turned her head back towards him and nodded. "Promise you won't call me crazy or a freak until I've had a chance to finish?"

"Of course," he said, swallowing past a sudden lump that had formed in his throat when she said the word 'freak.' It brought back uncomfortable memories of his parents yelling at his estranged cousin, but more importantly it reminded him what a cruel and horrible person he'd been for most of his adolescent life. He pushed past his revulsion so he could give his girlfriend his undivided attention, but only with considerable effort and focus.

"I know there have been things about me that have seemed off to you. Things that I should know but don't. Phrases I use, references I make." She was right about all of those things, but after he'd gotten past his initial confusion he hadn't let it bother him. None of it changed how wonderful a person she was and how lucky he was to have her in his life. He didn't feel the need to say any of this aloud, so he just nodded his understanding and waited for her to get to her point.

"There's a reason for all of that," she continued. You see, I'm not normal. Well, I'm not what _you_ would consider normal at least. To most of my family and friends _you_ would be the odd one."

"I did get that impression when I met your parents, yeah," he admitted. What an awkward lunch that had been.

"Right. That's what I'm getting at," she said. She chewed on a fingernail briefly, a habit she only fell back on when she was truly anxious about something. "My parents, and me, pretty much everyone I know really, aren't what you think of as normal people. We're actually..."

She stopped in mid-sentence, unable to go on. Now he was getting truly worried. He placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned his face in close.

"It's okay," he said quietly. "Whatever it is, it's okay," he assured her, hoping she could look at the open expression on his face and see how sincere he was about that.

"We're actually wizards," she blurted out. "I'm a wizard, well, a witch actually. I can do magic."

He froze for a second while his brain caught up to what she'd just said. It took a moment, but after he'd processed it a single word came out.

"Oh."

"Oh?" she repeated incredulously, looking at him like he were stupid. "That's all you have to say? Oh?"

"Sorry," he said. "Just wasn't expecting that."

"I know it sounds crazy, but I swear I'm not lying," she said nervously. "I've been a witch all my life. I even went to a school for wizards."

"Hogwarts?" he guessed without really thinking about it, and her jaw dropped.

"How do you know about Hogwarts?" she asked, staring at him in shock. He winced at the bad memories that came rushing back once again. "Are you a squib? It's okay if you are, that stuff doesn't bother me at all."

"Squib? What's a squib?"

"It's someone with wizard parents who doesn't have any magic themselves," she explained. "I guess I already know that's not it if I had to explain it to you."

"No," he agreed. He adjusted his shirt collar and scratched the back of his neck in discomfort. "My parents don't have magic, but my cousin Harry does. He went to Hogwarts too."

"Wait, Harry? Do you mean Harry Potter?"

He nodded. "That's him, yeah. He's kind of a celebrity in your world right? My mom told me about some of it."

"'Kind of a celebrity' doesn't even begin to cover it," she said with a slight chuckle. She seemed to have relaxed considerably now that she realized he wasn't going to think she was insane. "He's a hero, and most witches and wizards in England worship the ground that he walks on. I was only a year ahead of him at school, so I know him a little bit."

She looked and sounded wistful as she talked about Harry, and it set off alarms in Dudley's head. Did she have a thing for his cousin? And if so, how could he hope to compare to a bloody war hero?

"How well did you know him?" he asked. He tried to sound casual and nonchalant, but he could tell he failed miserably when she gave him a little teasing half-smile.

"Honestly? Not that well. I had a little crush on him, and we kissed and went on one date that was a total disaster. I've only seen him a few times since the end of the war, and we're friendly, but that's about it." Dudley couldn't help but sigh in relief, and she giggled.

"So I don't have any competition then?" he asked with a smile, feeling very light-hearted now that he was assured he had nothing to worry about.

"Definitely not. Harry was nice and I did like him, but that was never going to work out. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders, literally, and I was still grieving for my first love."

"Bad breakup?" he asked curiously. She shook her head, looking pained.

"No," she said softly. She closed her eyes, and when they reopened moments later he could see they were wet with unshed tears. "Cedric was murdered by Voldemort."

Dudley got a sinking feeling in his stomach upon hearing the name 'Cedric.' It took him a moment to place it, but he felt shame and horror course through him once he remembered the context.

"Fuck," he muttered. He dropped his head, feeling like the biggest arsehole in the world.

"It's okay. It was over a decade ago. It hurts to think about what happened to him, but I've already done my grieving," Cho assured him, obviously misinterpreting his reaction. He shook his head slowly.

"That's not it," he said, still looking at the ground. "I just realized something. Something that's probably going to make you punch me in the face or use your magic on me or something."

Undoubtedly she wanted to know what he was talking about, but she stayed silent and let him speak on his own time. He swallowed thickly, gathered his courage and told her everything. At first he started explaining why he'd reacted so strongly to hearing Cedric's name, but wound up basically spilling his guts about all of his regrets about how he'd treated Harry. Once he started, it all just kept coming. He told her about Harry's unhappy childhood at Privet Drive, his parents' horrible treatment of the boy and his own bullying of him. He'd already told her that he'd been a bully as a kid, but he'd never gone into detail like he was doing now.

She sat and listened to his story without interrupting, allowing him to get it all out. He'd looked up at her toward the end, expecting to see revulsion on her face, but he was surprised to find nothing of the sort. He wondered how she was going to react to the incident that had triggered this entire confession. She did wince when he described hearing Harry talking about Cedric's death in his sleep and taunting him about it, but even then she didn't look truly angry. He waited for a reaction from her once he was done, but a long silence stretched on until he realized none was forthcoming.

"So anyway, that's why I reacted like I did," he said finally. "I was a right bastard back then, but I'm not like that anymore. I just hope you'll give me a chance to prove it."

"You don't have to prove anything to me. I'm not angry with you, Dudley," she said calmly. He'd quickly discovered that she was terrible at trying to conceal her emotions, so he didn't doubt she was telling the truth. "You were a teenager, and teenagers say and do stupid things. I don't think I'd have liked you much at all if I'd known you back then, but I _do_ like you now."

"I like you too," he said with a grin. She smiled back, but then suddenly looked nervous again.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he assured her.

"Listening to your story, it seemed obvious that you're afraid of magic, or you were back then at least," she said. It was a point he couldn't argue, so he just nodded and waited for her to continue. "Do you still feel that way?"

"I was definitely terrified of it as a kid," he admitted. "How could I not be, when some giant burst into our hut and gave me a pig's tail?" He shuddered at the memory. He freely admitted to being a little shit back then, but even now that seemed like it had been excessive.

"A giant gave you a pig's tail?" Cho asked, astonished. So apparently that wasn't something wizards would consider normal either. That relieved Dudley more than he could say.

"Yeah. He was there to bring Harry to school because my dad was trying to keep him from going. My dad said some things that made him mad, and I probably didn't help by trying to eat Harry's birthday cake," he admitted.

"That must have been Hagrid," she decided. "He really shouldn't have done that. Did he at least remove it afterwards?"

"No. We had to go to get it surgically removed." What an embarrassing, not to mention painful, day that had been.

"That's awful," Cho said, frowning. "I'm sure that only made you and your parents more afraid of magic."

"I don't think my parents needed any more reason to hate magic. It definitely affected me though."

"And what about now?" she asked. "Are you still afraid of magic?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared of it," he admitted. He saw the worried look on her face and so hurried to explain himself further. "But Harry used it to save my life once. It still took some time for me to come around, but eventually I realized that it's not magic itself that's scary. It's all about the people using it."

"And how do you feel about having a girlfriend who uses magic?" He smiled at her cautious question and cupped her cheek, gently caressing her smooth skin.

"Let me show you." He leaned in for a kiss.

He knew his mum and dad wouldn't be happy when he told them his girlfriend was a witch, but that was just too bad. Dudley had grown a lot in recent years, and he figured it was past time they did the same. They were just going to have to learn to live with it. And if this relationship wound up going where he hoped it was? They could very well have magical grandchildren in their future.

It seemed that the Dursley family was never going to be free of the magical world. Dudley wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
